Get Involved With World Aids Day

It’s World Aids Day. Because we’ve come such a long way from the hard-hitting adverts and public health campaigns of the 1980s, some might think the battle against this disease has been won, but while medical technology is helping people with HIV/AIDS live longer and happier lives, there’s more work to do to raise awareness.

Around 100,000 people in the UK are living with #HIV

More than half of them are aged between 30 and 49

The number of people living with HIV in the UK has doubled in the last 10 years

So what can you do to help raise the profile of #ActAware, encouraging people to stay safe and get tested? Well, if there is a #MACcosmetics store nearby, you can pop in and buy an official red ribbon (there’s a suggested £1 donation, but we’re sure you can chip in a bit more). You can also get fancy and buy limited edition ribbons and handmade wooden ones from the campaign’s online shop.

Here’s Gok Wan modelling one. What do you think?

In the office today you could institute a ‘red tax’. If anyone is wearing red, remind them about #WordAidsDay and then ask if they’d like to make a donation.

Or set up a ‘red snack bar’ in the kitchen. All you have to do is stock it with treats in red packaging (including #KitKat and #Maltesers, obvs) and ask colleagues to buy them – at a premium, of course – with the money going to the charity.

Hold an impromptu lunchtime quiz, where people pay to show off and see who can come up with the most songs with red in the title or lyrics. ‘No smartphones allowed, #Roxanne. Or balloons’

Or simply auction a bottle of red wine. Oh, wait. I’ve got an idea: auction red wine and chocolate. Yes, I think that could work.

None of these things is difficult to do and you’ll have taken another step towards raising money as well as awareness about HIV and #AIDS. Think you can give it a go for a good cause?